This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application entitled Computer with a Strut for Supoorting Electronic Devices earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Jun. 11, 1999, and there duly assigned Ser. No. 99-21790 by that Office.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to computers and, more particularly, to a structure for mounting electronic devices, such as a disk drive or an electronic card, to a computer main body.
2. Description of the Background Art
Most kinds of computers have one or more computer disk drives. Such computer disk drives are generally mounted to the computer chassis of a computer""s main body. Generally employed disk drives are for example floppy disk drives for 3.5-inch floppy disks and CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) drives for CD-ROMs. Each one of the disk drives has a housing that contains a plurality of component elements and is mounted to a chassis of a computer""s main body.
When a floppy disk drive and a CD-ROM drive are both installed in a computer""s main body, one mounting technique positions both in the same space within a chassis. The disk drives are retained using a plurality of different holders and brackets that are positioned in the interior of a chassis. Consequently, the number of parts for mounting the disk drives to the chassis is increased, and work for mounting the disk drives to the chassis is complex and difficult.
In addition, the computer is generally provided with one or more electronic cards that are inserted into a mother board on the bottom of the chassis. The computer is packed in a container and conveyed in a state where the electronic cards are mounted into the mother board. Therefore, during the packing and conveyance of the computer, the electronic cards may be damaged by impact or vibration load. In order to solve this problem, a technique is required to securely retain the electronic cards in the interior of the chassis, thus preventing the cards from being damaged by impact or vibration load.
An exemplar of the background art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,525 for Multi-purpose Strut for Digital Computer Chassis issued to Rodriguez discloses a strut fastening both the front and rear walls to strengthen the chassis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,099 for Computer with an Improved Disk Drive Mounting Assembly issued to Radloff et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,070 for Structure of Computer Housing issued to Hsu, U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,277 for Computer Enclosure issued to Liu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,598 for Personal Computer Component Support issued to Liu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,570 for Modular Cabinet Assembly for a Computer issued to Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,097 for Reconfigurable Modular Computer Assembly having a Main Chassis with a Removably Attached Face Plate and at Least One Spacer Removably Attached to the Face Plate issued to Jelinger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,214 for Expansion Card/Riser Card Module for Desktop Computers issued to Steffes et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,152 for Modular Computer Apparatus issued to Felcman et al disclose mounting structures for personal computer systems.
I have found that the background art does not show a structure for mounting electronic devices in a computer that reduces the number of parts used and provides extra protection from vibration and impact for the electronic devices.
The present invention has been made to overcome the above described problems of the background art, and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure for mounting electronic devices to a computer""s main body, which allows work for mounting the devices to be simplified and facilitated.
It is another object to provide a structure for mounting electronic devices to a computer main body, which is capable of reducing the number of parts for mounting the devices to a computer main body.
It is a further object to provide a structure for mounting electronic devices to a computer main body, which is capable of securely retaining electronic cards in the interior of a chassis.
It is yet another object to provide an electronic devices mounting structure of computer""s main body that can protect the electronic devices from outside impact.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a structure for mounting electronic devices to a computer""s main body including a chassis having a first vertical plate, a second vertical plate and a bottom connecting the first and second vertical plates to each other, a first device holder positioned in the chassis and near the first vertical plate, a second device holder positioned in the chassis, near the first vertical plate and parallel with the first device holder, and a strut being fixed to the first vertical plate at its first end and to the second vertical plate at its second end while traversing over the chassis, and being engaged with and retaining the first and second device holders.
The structure may further have a riser socket mounted to a computer mother board and a riser card inserted to the riser socket and retained by the strut at its upper portion. The riser card may be retained by a clip having a channel, which is provided on one side of the strut. The strut may be provided with one or more screw holes on both sides of the clip and the riser card may be provided with screw holes corresponding to the screw holes of the strut, so as to fasten the riser card by means of screws. The structure may further include a bracket being secured to the first vertical plate between the first and second device holders and supporting the strut beneath the strut.
The first vertical plate may be provided with a first flange extended horizontally and inwardly from the top edge of the first vertical plate and provided with holes, the bracket may be provided with a projection, and a first end of the strut may be provided with projections inserted into the holes of the first flange and a hole engaged with the projection of the bracket.
The second vertical plate may be provided with a second flange extended horizontally and inwardly from the top edge of the second vertical plate and provided with screw holes, and a second end of the strut secured to the second flange may be provided with holes corresponding to the screw holes of the second flange.
The first device holder may hold a hard disk drive and a floppy disk drive. The second device holder may hold a CD-ROM drive. The chassis may be open at its top, and the strut may be secured to the centers of the tops of the first and second vertical plates of the chassis while being extended parallel to the top of the chassis.
In addition, the present invention provides another structure for mounting electronic devices to a computer""s main body, including a chassis having sidewalls, at least one device holder positioned in the chassis, and a strut being fixed to the sidewalls at its both ends while traversing over the chassis, and being engaged with and retaining the device holder.